NO more cop-outs. No more excuses. No more talk about single showers in tiny dressing rooms.

The gloves came off at Murray Park on Monday morning after the tight squeak that saw Rangers just edge past 10-man Forres Mechanics in the Scottish Cup.

And, as coach Ian Durrant revealed to Record Sport yesterday, that will be the last close call of the season if the Ibrox management team have anything to do with it.

The Rangers icon keeps himself grounded every Sunday by returning to Kinning Park, the area in the shadow of Ibrox where he was born and raised and where his mother still lives.

He goes into the pub he has frequented for years and is always confronted by two Partick Thistle supporters he refers to as Jack and Victor from Still Game.

“Every week they shout over to me: ‘Hey, Durrant, yer team’s s***e,’ he said. “I don’t mind the banter but I’m not going to have people say the statement’s accurate.

“We were terrible against Forres and that’s why we had a meeting on Monday to discuss application and attitude.

“No voices were raised but it was made clear that the management demand more than was on offer last Saturday.

“We don’t want to hear about quaint dressing rooms in tiny grounds. I’ve been in worse than we’ve experienced on the road this season, believe me.

“If there’s only one shower and you have to wait your turn to use it then that’s what you have to do. Matches aren’t won in dressing rooms. They’re won out on the pitch.

“When Rangers come to town it’s time for straw hats and trumpets. That’s when we have to put the battle armour on and fight.”

Lee Wallace in action against Forres Mechanics

Durrant is the original graduate from the school of hard knocks, having battled to save a career threatened by serious injury. So he’s not going to have the current crop failing Rangers due to a lack of commitment.

He said: “I’ve been 27 years at Rangers. A bluenose from Kinning Park. That’s it.

“But I know what football has given me and I know I was fortunate to get started.

“Now I’m helping Ally McCoist to run the shop and there are times when I have to pinch myself to make sure it’s true.

“People say they can see a change in Ally – and they’re right. He’s a far more practical man now than he was when we were cutting about town as young players.

“And Ally knows there’s no point in having the highest-paid, and most talented, players in the Third Division if they don’t apply themselves properly.

“He’s on the phone 24/7 because he takes the brunt of all that comes our way. None of us were prepared for what came our way after the club went into administration and then liquidation but we couldn’t stand by and see the heart and soul ripped out of the club we loved.”

Durrant is grateful for every day he spends at Rangers after fearing financial necessity might cost him his job.

That’s why he can’t tolerate anyone not delivering their best.

He said: “I spent a summer of dread and worry that my time at Rangers might be up. We were a matter of days from shutting up shop and I still think about that time. I had no plan in place for the future if the worst happened.

“It was the biggest worry I’d had since the surgeon told me I might not be able to play football again.

“I was proud of the way I came back from that day and went on to win Scotland caps, play over 400 times for Rangers and finish my career on a high at Kilmarnock.

“And I’m proud when I hear the fans Ally calls the ‘mad squad’ singing the song about Ian Durrant being blue and white. They might have had to find out what I did at the club because they’re too young to have seen me play but I’m happy because I was written off and I came back to play with a smile.

“Everything can be undone, though, and you have to take care of results first to make sure nothing happens to you. That’s why I don’t want to hear about dressing rooms and showers.

“Our captain Lee McCulloch has been a rock. We also have a manager who, like me, knows all about the less glamorous side of life at Rangers and elsewhere.

“We can remember playing at Hamilton where the clothes pegs were behind a beam from the ceiling to the floor. If you forgot about it then you ended up with a sore head before the game.

“We also went to Annan for pre-season matches and the dressing room wasn’t as good as the one we were in a couple of weeks ago.

“But we can’t get enough of the game, even if we realise we’re all slightly mad in this business.

“We’re firefighting every day to help get the club back to where we were. The SPL misses us and we want the battle fever back again.

“Coaching’s more stressful than playing because you have that added pressure of picking the right team. That’s why we told the players they can’t fail the club through lack of application.”